Changing Tide of City Development Reaches South of Manchester in The Grove

The big sexy news in The Grove may be the Paramount/UIC contemporary infill, but another item on the neighborhood development committee agenda may be a more important indicator of the area’s future. The Building Pros LLC is planning to construct two attached single family homes at 1303 South Boyle.

The homes would be approximately 2,400sf, feature four bedrooms, two baths and full basements. Estimated sales price is listed as $300,000. The developer is seeking a 10-year tax abatement and support to purchase a vacant city-owned lot.

If you don’t know, South Boyle isn’t the sexy part of The Grove. While UIC’s custom home is wedged into a lot on the far east end of Gibson Avenue, the high rents and higher home sale prices have long been marked on the east by the barricaded Newstead Avenue, and on the south by Manchester, if not Arco.

{the lot is currently a small garden with as asphalt lot behind}

{adjacent homes are shown renovated, but are not part of the current proposal}

Investment in the eastern half and southern half (south of Manchester) has remained largely absent. There, the building stock if often smaller with a mix of stick frame homes. Recently the Forest Park Southeast Historic District was extended south of Manchester, making some buildings eligible for historic tax credits for the first time.

Plans and proposals for significant infill on the south side have come and gone. With a bevy of vacant lots, and a big institutional land owner, development has stalled. Washington University, as Forest West Properties, Inc. via the Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corporation, owns approximately 80 parcels in the neighborhood south of Manchester. Nothing appears to be happening with the Washington University lots, as this proposal is for land owned by the city via the Land Reutilization Authority.

{blue dots indicate Washington University ownership}

{the FPSE historic district was recently extended south of Manchester}

{Boyle Avenue is marked by a row of a dozen single-story shotgun homes (3 of them here)}

Just a few blocks south, UIC has been able to acquire large parts of the eastern end of what was McRee Town and re-envision it as Botanical Grove. Yet this is a different type of development, building two homes in a corner of The Grove without control or prospects for a large number of adjacent sites. Redeveloping a city requires both, and more.

So who is The Building Pros? This seems a good time to remind readers to maybe not judge a developer by its website. “We Are the #1 Garage Builder in St. Louis!!!” the site screams. But never mind that, the FPSEDC agenda states that The Building Pros have been rehabbing and building new homes in Shaw, Tower Grove East, Tower Grove South and Southwest Garden in recent years.

The project some may recognize is the incredible rehab of the Hyde Park Beer building at 3128 Morganford. The London Tea Room moved to the building in March of this year from its long time home in downtown St. Louis. The new location features a cafe and event space.

That project alone means we should probably give the renderings for The Grove homes a second look, or maybe squint with one eye. The homes could be nice. The windows appear large, there’s a hefty cornice. As with many projects, the quality of the details will determine its final appeal. For all the regulations and review, the somewhat similar infill in Lafayette Square hasn’t been stellar, and so it’s hard to know what to expect.

Renderings provided to FPSEDC by the developer show two adjacent renovated homes that would appear to fit the style of their previous work. With any luck this is an indication of a future project. It easy to imagine their interest in these properties as they relate to the proposed homes. One is owned by Washington University, while the other is owner occupied according to city records. The proposal will be presented to the Park Central Forest Park Southeast Development Committee at this evening’s meeting (June 24).

In all of that, one shouldn’t lose track of the fact a relatively small development company is hoping to snag two vacant city-owned lots in a neglected corner of The Grove and turn a profit on $300,000 single family homes. To anyone watching development in the City of St. Louis for a decade or more, this represents a remarkable change in urban investment and a vote of confidence in the city.

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About Alex Ihnen

Alex is the owner and editor of nextSTL.com. He earned a B.A. in Journalism and Masters in Public Affairs at Indiana University and has studied in Adelaide, Australia and Perugia, Italy. Alex can be found on Twitter @alexihnen and reached at [email protected]

I agree that much needs to happen south of Manchester. I do have questions. I look at the rendition and see two homes filling a corner between Norfolk Av and an alley. There are still two homes that are barely mentioned at the end of the article. Is part of the Building Pros plan to replace smaller shotgun homes with modern, albeit tasteful, new homes? Will this gentrification replace all the inexpensive housing like it did in the CWE and Soulard? I’d just like to know more.

Alex Ihnen

You mean the wood frame homes in the third rendering?

From the story: “Renderings provided to FPSEDC by the developer show two adjacent renovated homes that would appear to fit the style of their previous work. With any luck this is an indication of a future project. It easy to imagine their interest in these properties as they relate to the proposed homes. One is owned by Washington University, while the other is owner occupied according to city records.”

Steve Kluth

No. I mean the two small shotgun-style houses to the left of the white pickup truck and the empty lot in the first picture. I believe those are the two homes mentioned in the article. Those two homes likely will be torn down with this development as the empty lot isn’t wide enough for it, and if that’s the case, one may be owner-occupied. The double garage behind each home plus small empty space in the rendition to which you refer means each new home will be about 26-28 feet wide. Not huge, but looking at that pickup truck with a short bed (about 6′) I doubt that empty lot could accommodate both new homes. That old housing stock is going to be torn down is my concern.

Alex Ihnen

I see. My understanding is that the new homes will only occupy the vacant corner lot, and the brick bungalows are staying. The presentation for support from the neighborhood said nothing of adjoining properties. The Google Streetview image is rather distorted, the lot is bigger than what that image makes it appear.

rgbose

The lot is 50 feet wide

Steve Kluth

Thanks to both you and Alex. I’m still not convinced as that’s leaving the tolerances a bit tight. But if this helps kick start the neighborhood’s redevelopment, I’ll be satisfied.

Kyle Steffen

We need this on Tower Grove, but as mixed-use. Plenty of corner lots to choose from!
It will be great to see new neighbors in this corner of the neighborhood.

Presbyterian

I suspect we’ll start to hear soon about more projects on the neighborhood’s southern boundary.

moe

I think this will be a nice addition to the neighborhood. What I find sad is that it, with the Hyde Park Beer building, it sat vacant and exposed to the elements for over 10 years. It wasn’t until the rear wall collapsed and almost took the rest of the building with it that the developers decided to rehab the project.
But now that it is done, it is a great addition to the neighborhood. Imagine if they had done this 3, 4, 5 years ago.

MRNHS

The first rendering of the two homes looks fantastic! But what’s the deal with the other two house renderings across the alley? The article says they are looking to construct two houses, but there are renderings for four houses.

Alex Ihnen

(added a caption to that image to clarify) From the story: “Renderings provided to FPSEDC by the developer show two adjacent renovated homes that would appear to fit the style of their previous work. With any luck this is an indication of a future project. It easy to imagine their interest in these properties as they relate to the proposed homes. One is owned by Washington University, while the other is owner occupied according to city records.”